On the meaning of a cut : towards a theory of editing

This thesis looks at a variety of discourses about film editing in order to explore the possibility, on the one hand, of drawing connections between them, and on the other, of addressing some of their problematic aspects. Some forms of fragmentation existed from the very beginnings of the history of the moving image, and the thesis argues that forms of editorial control were executed by early exhibitors, film pioneers, writers, and directors, as well as by a fullyfledged film editor. This historical reconstruction of how the profession of editor evolved sheds light on the specific aspects of their work. Following on from that, it is proposed that models of editing fall under two broad paradigms: of montage and continuity. These are not meant to be mutually exclusive categories, but rather umbrella terms for co-existing approaches that are governed by different principles. A re-evaluation of the concept of découpage complements this perspective. It is argued that reinstituting this notion, with its many variants, can help us think separately about issues of film form normally addressed at earlier stages of production, and conceptually distinct from the tasks of an editor. Their specificity, it is suggested, can be examined more productively by honing in on a very narrow set of procedures used in editing. The spiral model of editing proposed here is an intervention that addresses a common issue with theorising editing, the fact that the scope of the activity cuts across a number of categories related to film form. Using historical, theoretical, and pragmatic lenses, the thesis offers a new elucidation of what it is we mean when we talk about editing

Enhancing Video Recommendation Using Multimedia Content

Video recordings are complex media types. When we watch a movie, we can effortlessly register a lot of details conveyed to us (by the author) through different multimedia channels, in particular, the audio and visual modalities. To date, majority of movie recommender systems use collaborative filtering (CF) models or content-based filtering (CBF) relying on metadata (e.g., editorial such as genre or wisdom of the crowd such as user-generated tags) at their core since they are human-generated and are assumed to cover the 'content semantics' of movies by a great degree. The information obtained from multimedia content and learning from muli-modal sources (e.g., audio, visual and metadata) on the other hand, offers the possibility of uncovering relationships between modalities and obtaining an in-depth understanding of natural phenomena occurring in a video. These discerning characteristics of heterogeneous feature sets meet users' differing information needs. In the context of this Ph.D. thesis [9], which is briefly summarized in the current extended abstract, approaches to automated extraction of multimedia information from videos and their integration with video recommender systems have been elaborated, implemented, and analyzed. Variety of tasks related to movie recommendation using multimedia content have been studied. The results of this thesis can motivate the fact that recommender system research can benefit from knowledge in multimedia signal processing and machine learning established over the last decades for solving various recommendation tasks

Cartoon Contracts and the Proactive Visualization of Law

Contracts have always relied on text first, foremost, and usually exclusively. Yet, this approach leaves many users of contracts in the dark as to the actual meaning of the transactional documents and instruments they enter into. The average contract routinely uses language that only lawyers, law-trained readers, and highly literate persons can truly understand. There is a movement in the law in the United States and many other nations called the visualization of law movement that attempts to bridge these gaps in contractual communication by using highly visual instruments. In appropriate circumstances, even cartoons and comic book forms of sequential narrative have been used to communicate contract terms to all parties, but particularly to contractors who are illiterate or lessthan-fully literate in the language of the instrument. The goal of this Article is to apply the lens of visual legal rhetoric and visual literacy to the current visualization movement in Proactive Law and Legal Design in their efforts to promote visual, non-verbal communication in contracts through cartoon, comic book, and highly pictorial legal instruments. The lens will be applied to evaluate and critique five aspects of proactive visual legal instruments: • Immediate Visual Context • Immediate Verbal Context • Visual Cultural Context • Mise en Scène and Arrangement • Visual Rhetoric, Ethics and Professionalism This Article analyzes whether highly visual contracts and legal instruments fulfill the potential for greater access to and understanding of contract terms particularly with audiences whose language skills and cultural experience might make the comprehension and acceptance of purely verbal contracts more difficult. When visuals can overcome barriers in communication that words alone cannot, contracts and other legal instruments can be made more universal in their application, interpretation, performance, and enforcement

Cartoon Contracts and the Proactive Visualization of Law

Contracts have always relied on text first, foremost, and usually exclusively. Yet, this approach leaves many users of contracts in the dark as to the actual meaning of the transactional documents and instruments they enter into. The average contract routinely uses language that only lawyers, law-trained readers, and highly literate persons can truly understand. There is a movement in the law in the United States and many other nations called the visualization of law movement that attempts to bridge these gaps in contractual communication by using highly visual instruments. In appropriate circumstances, even cartoons and comic book forms of sequential narrative have been used to communicate contract terms to all parties, but particularly to contractors who are illiterate or less-than-fully literate in the language of the instrument. The goal of this Article is to apply the lens of visual legal rhetoric and visual literacy to the current visualization movement in Proactive Law and Legal Design in their efforts to promote visual, non-verbal communication in contracts through cartoon, comic book, and highly pictorial legal instruments. The lens will be applied to evaluate and critique five aspects of proactive visual legal instruments: • Immediate Visual Context • Immediate Verbal Context • Visual Cultural Context • Mise en Scène and Arrangement • Visual Rhetoric, Ethics and Professionalism This Article analyzes whether highly visual contracts and legal instruments fulfill the potential for greater access to and understanding of contract terms particularly with audiences whose language skills and cultural experience might make the comprehension and acceptance of purely verbal contracts more difficult. When visuals can overcome barriers in communication that words alone cannot, contracts and other legal instruments can be made more universal in their application, interpretation, performance, and enforcement

On the meaning of a cut : towards a theory of editing

This thesis looks at a variety of discourses about film editing in order to explore the possibility, on the one hand, of drawing connections between them, and on the other, of addressing some of their problematic aspects. Some forms of fragmentation existed from the very beginnings of the history of the moving image, and the thesis argues that forms of editorial control were executed by early exhibitors, film pioneers, writers, and directors, as well as by a fullyfledged film editor. This historical reconstruction of how the profession of editor evolved sheds light on the specific aspects of their work. Following on from that, it is proposed that models of editing fall under two broad paradigms: of montage and continuity. These are not meant to be mutually exclusive categories, but rather umbrella terms for co-existing approaches that are governed by different principles. A re-evaluation of the concept of découpage complements this perspective. It is argued that reinstituting this notion, with its many variants, can help us think separately about issues of film form normally addressed at earlier stages of production, and conceptually distinct from the tasks of an editor. Their specificity, it is suggested, can be examined more productively by honing in on a very narrow set of procedures used in editing. The spiral model of editing proposed here is an intervention that addresses a common issue with theorising editing, the fact that the scope of the activity cuts across a number of categories related to film form. Using historical, theoretical, and pragmatic lenses, the thesis offers a new elucidation of what it is we mean when we talk about editing

DOGME DOES HOLLYWOOD: A CASE OF MINOR CINEMA

This thesis analyzes four films by the Danish directors and founders of the Dogme 95 movement, Thomas Vinterberg and Lars von Trier. The four films were released in their post-Dogme period: It\u27s All About Love (Vinterberg, 2003), Dogville (von Trier, 2003), Manderlav (von Trier, 2005), and Dear Wendv (Vinterberg, 2005). The thesis places these films about America within the (film-)historical context of the Bush-Cheney regime\u27s hard-right agenda, and the larger context of the Hollywood films released during the period. The theory of minor cinema — inspired by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari — is used to analyze the politics of space, language and perception in each of these films. The thesis argues for a new, inherently transnational use of minor cinema that accounts for Félix Guattari\u27s contributions to the theory, often eclipsed by the more widespread reception of Gilles Deleuze

Six Post-9/11 American War Films: Towards an Evolution of Nontraditional Masculine Constructs

abstract: Scholars argue that masculinity and war are united because masculinity is best observed through male-dominated arenas, such as the military. Moreover, film can serve as a medium to not only establish what is socially acceptable, but play an active role in the creation of one’s identity. Filmmakers past and present have employed the motif of masculinity in their war films, which put it at the center of the social structure and creates an overall acceptable cultural ideology. These filmmakers have established the overall rules, themes, and methods used as part of the war film genre. These rules, themes, and methods served well for pre-1970 American war cinema, when women were not allowed in the military as soldiers. However, as of 2003, female soldiers have grown to comprise twenty percent of the active soldiers and officers in the military. Studies on masculinity construction are well documented in World War II, Vietnam, and Gulf War-era combat films; however, little has been studied on post-9/11 American war films involving the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Using literature on masculinity constructs, both inside and outside of film, as well as social construction theory, identity theory, genre theory, and auteur theory, this dissertation textually examines masculinity construction in six post-9/11 American war films. This dissertation finds that the contemporary war genre continues to construct masculinity similar to past eras of war film. Comradery, the warrior image, not showing emotion, having a violent demeanor, and the demonization of women and cowardice were all prevalent in one or more of the films analyzed in this study. However, there were many nontraditional masculine ideals that were implemented, such as women being present and taking an active role as soldiers, as well as women being portrayed in the warrior image. The films analyzed demonstrate that the war film genre is still depicting and therefore socially constructing masculinity in a way that was prevalent in pre-1970 war films. However, the genre is evolving and nontraditional masculinity constructs are starting to present themselves.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Journalism and Mass Communication 201

Adapting history: applying adaptation theory to historical film and television

This thesis argues that historical films and television programmes help generate new interpretations of the past, even when they depart from a common interpretation of how history is generally understood. In order to do this a variety of films and television programmes are analysed through the lens of adaptations studies. This thesis presents an analysis of current research in adaptation studies, alongside contemporary research into historical film. Four questions concerning historical adaptation are identified through which an original contribution to existing knowledge is made. These questions are: a)To what extent is an adaptation’s presentation of the past aware of the context of the depicted historical events? b) How can the addition of elements which were not present within the surviving sources, for example anachronisms, function within a historical adaptation? c) How can an adaptation promote a new interpretation of the events which are the focus of the adaptation, as well as how those events relate to the present? d) How can an adaptation be used to inform, critique, or aid in an audience’s understanding of history? The ideas that emerge from a literature review are explored over the course of four separate, but interrelated, case studies. These case studies each focusing on a different aspect of historical adaptation. The results are then combined in the conclusion in order to create a cohesive, central argument about the potential benefits of historical adaptation in film and television

The impact on and responses of viewers to product placement: a study of mainstream films.

Product placement is a promotional tool within the discipline of marketing whereby branded items feature in entertainment vehicles such as video games, television programmes, stage plays, music videos, books and films. This thesis investigates this practice in relation to mainstream, commercial films. The nature of this research gives it a multidisciplinary approach across two key themes, namely Celebrity Status and Product Placement - with Marketing Communications being the element that links them. Determining which product placements in films make the most impact upon consumers for the commercial benefit of the stakeholders is, primarily, this focus of this thesis. In total eighty-six individuals were interviewed, and the researcher used a qualitative approach, informed with a grounded theory methodology. This yielded an abundance of responses with participants providing a wealth of mixed and, at times, contradictory feedback relating to the acceptance, rejection and ethical concerns regarding product placements. As part of the research process, close attention was paid to the attraction and fascination that actors hold for research participants and how this celebrity-focus, combined with having an audience in a relaxed and receptive frame of mind, informs outcomes in terms of brand recall, enhanced brand values and eventual sales. The study concludes that film placements remain an elusive practice to assess despite it being a long-established marketing technique that has a growing, multi-billion dollar annual spend. This thesis provides insights into the practice and suggests that key variables such as the placement presentation styles and the diversity of consumers, make the commercial assessment of placements hard to determine. Thus, any measures of the success of product placement in mainstream films appear to be limited and difficult to predict